Buffoonery From the Left and the Right

In his Daily News column, Stanley Crouch calls out the "conservative elephant" Donald Trump and the "academic donkey" Cornel West for an irrational narcissism that threatens both the right and the left.

In his Daily News column, Stanley Crouch says that the political middle has been drowned out by the Tea Party and narcissistic buffoonery from folks like Princeton professor Cornel West and businessman Donald Trump. He says their antics overpower credible voices.

The kinds of ideologues who are buffoonishly trapped in irrational narcissism threaten both the right and the left. It does not matter if one is Donald Trump, a conservative elephant, or Cornel West, a so-called academic donkey ready to spout “progressive” clichés. In fact, each believes that President Obama proves how out of touch he is by not calling one of them for badly needed advice.

It looks like every Republican running for the presidential nomination except for Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich has refused to appear in a Trump-sponsored debate later this month. Even if they need the votes, they must know what it will look like to have a political discussion that resembles a Marx Brothers routine.

Then there is the other side. At the recent gala for The Nation magazine, West was lightly defended by some, but many dismissed him for attacking the President in a way that could help right-wing extremists opposed to the thoughtful use of compromise at the center of American politics.